Boone Hospital Opens Healing Garden

COLUMBIA - Boone Hospital Center and Boone Hospital Foundation hosted the opening of a "Healing Garden" Friday morning. The garden is a space for patients and visitor to relax and get out of the hospital for a while.

Boone Hospital Foundation executive director Barbara Danuser said the garden will help patients feel better. "It has healing effects. Research has indicated that nature calms and reduces stress, resulting in beneficial healing," said Danuser.

The space is also open to the community and has walking paths, benches, trees, a lot of plants and some waterfalls. Danuser said patients could step out and also listen to the relaxing music outside, enjoy the waterfall and walk around the engravings on the pavement. Those engravings are dedicated to those 280 donors who helped build the garden.

Danuser said the project costed about $800,000, but Boone Hospital Foundation has raised $220,000. "We are so pleased and thankful to our community because they have provided contributions like purchasing bricks, waterfalls, benches, trees...," said Danuser.

Brent Gates was enjoying the day with his family. "It's a beautiful garden, nice and shady. A great place to listen to some music and get away from the hospital."